


Four Times Dove Kissed Aly

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce, Trickster - Tamora Pierce
Genre: 5 Times, F/F, Kissing, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 06:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13140714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: And one time Aly kissed her back





	Four Times Dove Kissed Aly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thisisthemorning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisthemorning/gifts).



As a slave, Aly wasn’t expecting to receive anything from the Balitangs for Midwinter. She spared a brief thought that, as the God’s messenger, they might chose to do something, but what could they possibly give her? In Tortall, servants often received a small gift of coins at Midwinter, in thanks for their service. However, Aly didn’t think that tradition extended to the Copper Isles, and certainly not to slaves, who were not allowed to have money. She was no longer a slave, true, but she still didn’t think the Isles celebrated that Midwinter tradition.

Thus, she was pleasantly surprised to see a package beside her pallet when she woke up after the longest night of Midwinter. Dove, noticing her surprise, chuckled. “It is tradition among the noble Lurian here in the Isles,” she explained. “Slaves in the fields and orchards and whatnot get the day off as a present. Household slaves and servants either get the same or a small token, usually clothes or something useful for their station. Most of the raka don’t celebrate, unless they live in a Lurian household.”

Aly filed away that information as she plucked at the string around her own parcel. “I didn’t expect anything, My Lady,” she said meekly.

“So I gathered,” Dove replied with a smile. “Well, open it!”

Nimbly opening the paper, Aly found a wraparound shawl, as bright as any sarong, but made of warm wool, perfect for the cold winter at Tanair. “Thank you, My Lady, and the Duchess as well,” Aly said, truly grateful, as she eagerly wrapped the shawl around her shoulders. Despite coming from Tortall, which on the whole was colder than the Copper Isles, her home fief was in the southern part of the nation, and Tanair was _cold_. Aly had no idea how the local raka survived in this snowy wasteland.

“It is far less than we owe you,” Dove said, slightly cryptically. Then she quickly kissed Aly’s forehead. “Thank you, Aly.”

oOo

“I will be your friend until the end of time,” Aly whispered in the dark. She had made her decision at the end of last summer that she would stay in the Copper Isles, beside these girls. Now it finally felt _right_.

The handclasp quickly turned into a hug, desperate, and reassuring. Aly could feel the tremors that ran through Dove easing in her arms. Aly wasn’t sure how long she held her future queen, but finally Dove stirred. As she pulled away, Aly felt a ghost of a kiss on her cheek. She couldn’t see Dove’s expression in the dark, but Aly knew what it meant.

_Thank you._

As Dove pulled her to her feet, Aly squeezed her hand in reply.

_You’re welcome._

oOo

During the rest period, Dove left Winnamine’s side for the first time since their painful vigil on the docks. Aly found the younger girl waiting in her workroom; she wrapped herself around Aly as soon as the door closed. “I need a friend right now,” she confessed.

Aly gave in to the hug, holding Dove tight. Unlike the Duchess, Dove knew which God meddled in their lives. She knew that Kyprioth had had at least a finger in taking her brother from her. But unlike Winnamine, who could curse the gods for tearing apart her family, Dove knew that Kyprioth, in his own twisted way, had done this _for her_. That Elsren and Dunnevon, and to a certain extent even her father had needed to die so that _she_ could become queen. That at least two more people, the Prince and Princess, still needed to die so that she could reign.

It was a heavy burden to bear for anyone, let alone someone Dove’s age, and Aly was willing to hold her as long as she needed. When, some time later, Dove lifted a pleading, tear-stained face to her, Aly accepted the chaste, comfort-seeking kiss as well. It was the least she could do for her friend, her queen.

oOo

Aly bowed to Dove, knowing that this might be the last time they saw each other, though she didn’t intend to go down easily. “If I don’t see you again, I just want you to know, I would have worked for you gladly even without the god’s involvement.”

Dove threw herself at Aly, hugging her tightly. “You need to survive. I need you; you promised.”

“I did,” Aly agreed, feeling her bones creak under the force of Dove’s hug and knowing that she was hanging on just as tightly. Soon Aly would need to let her go, and take her place in today’s plots. Soon Dove would become a queen. But for right now, they were friends, or something more, and their world was wrapped in their thin arms.

With one last squeeze, Dove suddenly bobbed up and kissed a surprised Aly on the lips before turning and heading towards the stables.

With a small smile on her face, Aly headed off to take her own position.

oOo

As Dove closed the door to her personal chambers, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had been informed that she was not allowed to refuse to have Ladies in Waiting, but at least she could restrict them to her outer rooms. Her bed chamber had quickly become her sanctuary, where none was allowed to enter while she was present.

Taking off her heavy crown, Dove was tempted to chuck it across the room, but a light chuckle stopped her. Emerging from the shadows, Aly plucked the crown from her hands and placed it on the changing table. “It wouldn’t do to dent this on your very first day of wearing it, Your Highness,” she teased.

Dove stuck her tongue out at her former maid, turned spymaster - one of the few she could still do that with.

“I can think of better things you can do with that,” Aly murmured, ignoring the personal space that most granted their new Queen and sliding up against her in a rustle of skirts.

“Oh can you?” Dove replied, her breath quickening.

“Happy belated Midwinter,” Aly whispered, a moment before capturing Dove’s lips with her own.


End file.
